Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.) earned his first USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship victory of the year on Friday night at Fairbury, Nebraska's Jefferson County Speedway. (Team Green Productions Photo) (Video Highlights from FloRacing.com)
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Fairbury, Nebraska (July 12, 2024)………By the time Justin Grant reached the top of the leaderboard during Friday night’s USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship feature event at Fairbury, Nebraska’s Jefferson County Speedway, it had already been an oft-visited place for him in recent days.
The Ione, Calif. native had led each of the first two Mid-America Midget Week feature events – seven at Oklahoma’s Red Dirt Raceway on Tuesday and 11 more at Kansas’ Mitchell County Fairgrounds on Wednesday, to be precise. However, at the end of those two particular runs, Grant had to watch from afar as others were showered with the celebratory laurels.
Grant’s third race led of the week proved the be the charm as he capitalized on series Rookie Zach Wigal’s brief slip up, then led the final 12 laps en route to victory on the opening night of the Riverside Chevrolet Midwest Midget Championship Presented by Westin Packaged Meats & Schmidt's Sanitation.
For Grant, it was his first USAC National Midget triumph since the September 2023 Driven2SaveLives BC39 at The Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Additionally, it’s Grant’s second career victory at the 1/5-mile dirt oval of Jefferson County after previously scoring in 2018.
Overall, it was the 17th career USAC National Midget feature victory for Grant, moving him into a tie for 42nd all-time alongside Jay Drake and J.J. Yeley. Furthermore, it extended Grant’s active streak of consecutive seasons with a USAC National Midget victory to eight as he became just the ninth driver to have collected a series win that many years in a row, joining Mel Kenyon (21), Rich Vogler (15), Bob Wente (14), Bryan Clauson (12), Bob Tattersall (11), Darren Hagen (10), Jay Drake (8) and Sleepy Tripp (8).
As Grant pulled into victory lane, it also notched his 80th overall USAC feature win, one of just 12 drivers to reach the mark along with Rich Vogler (171), A.J. Foyt (162), Sleepy Tripp (161), Mel Kenyon (131), Dave Darland (115), Bryan Clauson (112), Damion Gardner (106), Tracy Hines (98), Tom Bigelow (89), Gary Bettenhausen (82) and Brady Bacon (80).
Previously, Grant’s pursuit of a first USAC National Midget victory in 2024 came up short when he was passed for the lead with 12 laps remaining in Tuesday’s event at Red Dirt before crossing the line in third. The disappointment on Wednesday at Mitchell County was tenfold as Grant uncharacteristically over rotated his car with 10 laps to go while leading and glided to a stop, resulting in a distant 16th place result.
All of the aforementioned accolades suit Grant just fine, but more than anything, finally breaking through for a victory on Friday night brought a huge sense of relief for the driver of the RMS Racing/NOS Energy Drink – EnviroFab – MPV Express/Spike/Speedway Toyota.
“I feel like we’ve had a really good car all week after we really struggled to start the year,” Grant summed up. “On the first night (of Mid-America Midget Week), I feel like we had a really good car. I just didn’t get it tight enough for the feature. So, I knew what we needed to do going forward. Then, we went to Beloit, and I did all that, but I went ahead and stepped on it and killed the motor while leading. I finally have a lot of confidence in this car, and it feels great to be back in victory lane. I’d like to say I’m really excited, but honestly, I’m just relieved. It just feels good to be back up here.”
When all summed up, Grant’s winless streak in USAC national competition amounted to 21 races since his most recent triumph, a USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship triumph on May 31 at Iowa’s Knoxville Raceway. But with car chief Lacey Doyle on the wrenches and additional assistance from 2019 Jefferson County winning driver Jason McDougal, Grant’s time had finally come.
“Lacey Doyle, it’s been just her and I out here for most of the trip and she’s been working her tail off,” Grant praised. “It’s hot, it’s rough and we’ve been fighting generator issues and everything else, and she’s been digging. She was the first one to tell me, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll go win another one’ after I stepped on it the other night.”
While Grant lined up from the pole position, it was outside front row starter Wigal who gained the initial edge as he shot around the outside of Grant to cement the early race lead while first-time Honest Abe Roofing fast qualifier Kyle Jones had used the high side to slot into third after starting sixth.
While Wigal established a full second lead throughout the first half of the 30-lap main event, third-running Jones’ heartwarming story ended abruptly on lap 12 when he wound up over the cushion in turns one and two, necessitating a yellow flag, kicking up dust as he performed a 360-degree spin. Jones was utilizing a borrowed engine from RMS Racing, which had been installed into a newly rebuilt Joyner Motorsports car during a midnight oil burning session held the night before following mechanical issues in their most recent start. Jones finished 15th but it was certainly not indicative of the speed they had shown before their misfortune.
Wigal’s first 18 circuits of the feature turned out to be the first 18 laps led of his USAC National Midget career. He remained in control with a six-car length lead entering lap 19 when a sudden glance of his right rear tire against the turn one cushion came to be highly detrimental. Wigal slipped over the edge, resulting in the entirety of the top-10 blowing by Wigal within the snap of a finger as he fought to climb his way back onto the track’s surface.
Among those drivers taking advantage of Wigal’s mishap was Grant who charged by to take over up front for the third consecutive race, but this time, he was determined to find a different result on a track surface that fit him to a T.
“I feel like, in the midgets, when the cushion slows down, I can kind of compete,” Grant explained. “These kids are really, really talented and they’re really, really good racecar drivers. They race micros so young and they’re on such big stages real young. They’re awesome racecar drivers, and when that cushion is fast, man, they can just hammer that thing. I don’t quite have that gear anymore. But when it slows down and gets a little technical, you’ve got to start picking and choosing and not just smash it. I can go make some money then.”
With that said, on a bullring such as Jefferson County, it’s often difficult to find room to work at times. Grant attempted to negotiate his way through traffic on the 24th lap but became hung up behind the car of Nebraskan Brian Schwabauer. That allowed Logan Seavey to close to within a car length of challenging Grant for the race lead.
However, just in the nick of time, sixth running Daison Pursley spun off course in turns one and two to bring out the caution, thus ending the equation of lapped traffic becoming a factor during the final stretch. With the incident, Pursley, utilizing a brand-new chassis for the evening, saw his bid for a fourth-straight series victory come to a close while winding up with his worst result of the season.
Upon the restart, Grant found himself in decent shape. However, Cannon McIntosh made a late surge to drive under Seavey for second with four laps to go, then quickly tracked down Grant to nearly pull even for the lead in turn two on the final lap. Yet, Grant’s momentum was just enough to shake off McIntosh as Grant crossed 0.427 seconds ahead at the finish line over McIntosh, Seavey, Ryan Timms and Jade Avedisian who advanced 15 spots to finish fifth after starting 20th, thus earning herself both hard charger honors and the Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night.
Cannon McIntosh (Bixby, Okla.) now owns nine top-10 finishes in each of his nine career USAC National Midget feature starts at Jefferson County Speedway. He made a late-race charge to work his way up to a runner-up finish in the end, which also happened to be his best career result at the track in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/Gear Wrench – TRD – Mobil 1/LynK/Speedway Toyota.
“I think our car just came in good at the end there,” McIntosh said. “I just kind of struggled midway through the race trying to find my marks. I’d see guys peek to my inside, so for most of the race, I was kind of playing defense. On that last restart, I finally played some offense and figured out where to run. Then I just started figuring my marks out and I was able to run the same line two laps in a row.”
Logan Seavey (Sutter, Calif.) had endured two-straight frustrating nights with a drivetrain issue and an accident that supplied him with finishes of 19th and 22nd. On Friday, he returned to the podium with a third-place result and his third-straight top-three finish at Jefferson County aboard his Abacus Racing/CG CPAs – Indy Custom Stone – MPV Express/Spike/Stanton SR-11x.
“We’ve been super-fast but just can’t seem to finish the night,” Seavey explained. “My guys have been doing a good job and we’re running up front every night and racing for wins. Things weren’t going our way but that’s part of it sometimes. You’ve got to ride the highs when you’ve got them and keep digging when you’re struggling. I just made a few mistakes there on that last restart with my adjustments inside the car. I was really thinking I could’ve gotten up higher on the racetrack, but the bottom was really gripped up there at the end. I think I was a little too patient with Justin there in the beginning when we were in second and third. I needed to get by him before he got to the lead, but he got to the lead and changed his line and that’s part of it. He’s a great racer and when guys like that get in front of you, they’re hard to pass.”
Jerry Coons Jr. (Tucson, Ariz.) also set a brand new eight-lap USAC National Midget track record at Jefferson County with a winning time of 1:30.403, which set the pace during the Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi-Feature.
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USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 12, 2024 – Jefferson County Speedway – Fairbury, Nebraska – 1/5-Mile Dirt Oval – Riverside Chevrolet Midwest Midget Championship Presented by Westin Packaged Meats & Schmidt's Sanitation / USAC Mid-America Midget Week
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Kyle Jones, 27x, Joyner-10.899; 2. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-10.939; 3. Kale Drake, 97K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-10.956; 4. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-10.956; 5. Zach Wigal, 89, CBI-10.956; 6. Justin Grant, 2, RMS-10.968; 7. Daison Pursley, 86, CBI-10.984; 8. Jacob Denney, 25, Malloy-11.027; 9. Gavin Miller, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.052; 10. Ricky Lewis, 54, 4 Kings-11.057; 11. Ryan Timms, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.059; 12. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, Engler-11.100; 13. Trey Zorn, 00, Chandler-11.126; 14. Jerry Coons Jr., 85, Central-11.129; 15. Jake Andreotti, 14, 4 Kings-11.161; 16. Mitchell Davis, 56, O'Dell-11.163; 17. Zach Daum, 5d, RAMCO/Daum-11.165; 18. Daniel Whitley, 60x, LeVecque-11.200; 19. Lance Bennett, 91, Mason-11.207; 20. Jade Avedisian, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.212; 21. Don Droud Jr., 22T, Burch-11.225; 22. Brian Schwabauer, 9B, Murphy-11.560; 23. John Klabunde, 77, Klabunde-11.681; 24. Curtis Spicer, 4s, Spicer-11.795; 25. Zack Merritt, 43, Oerter-12.131; 26. Shaun Shapel, 84s, Shapel-13.884.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Daison Pursley, 2. Trey Zorn, 3. Kyle Jones, 4. Cannon McIntosh, 5. Ricky Lewis, 6. Mitchell Davis, 7. Brian Schwabauer, 8. Lance Bennett, 9. Zack Merritt. 1:54.684
ROD END SUPPLY SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Ryan Timms, 2. Jacob Denney, 3. Logan Seavey, 4. Jade Avedisian, 5. Zach Wigal, 6. Zach Daum, 7. Jerry Coons Jr., 8. John Klabunde, 9. Shaun Shapel. NT
T.J. FORGED / CAR IQ THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Jake Andreotti, 2. Daniel Whitley, 3. Gavin Miller, 4. Thomas Meseraull, 5. Justin Grant, 6. Kale Drake, 7. Don Droud Jr., 8. Curtis Spicer. 1:55.134
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (8 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Jerry Coons Jr., 2. Don Droud Jr., 3. Lance Bennett, 4. Brian Schwabauer, 5. Zack Merritt, 6. Curtis Spicer, 7. John Klabunde, 8. Shaun Shapel. 1:30.403 (New Track Record)
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Justin Grant (1), 2. Cannon McIntosh (3), 3. Logan Seavey (5), 4. Ryan Timms (8), 5. Jade Avedisian (20), 6. Gavin Miller (11), 7. Kale Drake (4), 8. Jake Andreotti (9), 9. Mitchell Davis (16), 10. Zach Daum (17), 11. Jacob Denney (10), 12. Zach Wigal (2), 13. Jerry Coons Jr. (15), 14. Thomas Meseraull (13), 15. Kyle Jones (6), 16. Don Droud Jr. (21), 17. Daison Pursley (7), 18. Brian Schwabauer (22), 19. Ricky Lewis (12), 20. Lance Bennett (19), 21. Trey Zorn (14), 22. Zack Merritt (24), 23. Curtis Spicer (23), 24. Daniel Whitley (18). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-18 Zach Wigal, Laps 19-30 Justin Grant.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Daison Pursley-784, 2-Cannon McIntosh-716, 3-Ryan Timms-674, 4-Logan Seavey-647, 5-Zach Daum-642, 6-Justin Grant-618, 7-Jacob Denney-601, 8-Gavin Miller-597, 9-Kale Drake-543, 10-Zach Wigal-501.
USAC NATIONAL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Daison Pursley-123, 2-Logan Seavey-112, 3-Robert Ballou-111, 4-C.J. Leary-96, 5-Justin Grant-93, 6-Joey Amantea-89, 7-Kyle Cummins-86, 8-Chase Stockon-70, 9-Carson Garrett-63, 10-Brady Bacon-62.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 13, 2024 – Jefferson County Speedway – Fairbury, Nebraska – 1/5-Mile Dirt Oval – Riverside Chevrolet Midwest Midget Championship Presented by Westin Packaged Meats & Schmidt's Sanitation / USAC Mid-America Midget Week
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Dirt Draft Hot Laps Fastest Driver: Jerry Coons Jr. (11.113)
Honest Abe Roofing Fast Qualifier: Kyle Jones (10.899)
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Daison Pursley
Rod End Supply Second Heat Winner: Ryan Timms
T.J. Forged / Car IQ Third Heat Winner: Jake Andreotti
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Jerry Coons Jr.
Hard Charger: Jade Avedisian (20th to 5th)
Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night: Jade Avedisian